American Exceptionalism
Posted on | May 29, 2010 | No Comments
On monday night I have an exam for my masters in international studies. The subject I am studying is American Exceptionalism. Below are a a few scattered thoughts post a day of study and reflection.
So how is America exceptional? Here are some thoughts that I have pulled together during my study and in prep for the exam:
1: America’s founding is exceptional
From the 1620s with the Mayflower Compact, the first social contract concept, something special was happening in how America was founded and the devices that were put in place to support it. These early ideas and documents, supported by Puritain thinking about starting the world over again and being the “City on a Hill” (Matt 5:24), were supported more formally by three key documents:
a: The declaration of independence written in 1776, set in train a thinking of republic that would be answerable to “we the people”.
b: The Constitution – This is the “we the people” document that sets out the limits on executive power and puts the focus on individuals to make of it what they will in the land of great opportunity.
c: The Bill of Rights – reflecting what was already held to be truths, that were for once documented and available for all.
Worth reflection is the Manifest destiny idea, developed by John O’Sullivan in 1845 that says it is America’s devine destiny to sweep across the continent and with the annexation of Texas (and all the way to California) this destiny certainly seemed to be supported by God!
2: The belief in America’s role in the world
America has a special view on its role in the world. For a while there, American’s showed little interest in world affairs, even Woodrow Wilson talked of staying independent of WW1 and when finally the did join, did so with “no selfish ends to serve”. Following Wilson, it is not until Truman that we start to see a sense of global engagement with the $400m rescue package to Greece / Turkey to stop the rise of left-leaning movements and in what has been called the first steps of the containment policy that would drive the Cold War.
Today we think America has always had a view of itself as the World’s sheriff, but is that really the case or is it a response to their economic position (relative strength) post both WW1 and WW2? I suspect it is a post WW2 held belief, so it is therefore a relatively recently held view. Under Bush, however, it may be hard to reflect on how this is relatively new, he seemed to enjoy his time in the captains chair!
So is America Exceptional?
The answer has to be yes in certain areas and no in other areas. However, the areas where America is exceptional are truly significant.
Thoughts?
Robin Hood @ Event Gold Class
Posted on | May 22, 2010 | No Comments
5 thoughts on Leadership
Posted on | April 4, 2010 | No Comments
I am a student at University of Sydney, studying a Masters in International Studies. Recently we looked at leadership. Now there are many thoughts on leadership, here are five of my own.
Leadership is not always formal
Think Jesus, Ghandi or Mandela. If anything, their formal roles were consistently reduced, yet their leadership grew. Leading from a position is easy leadership, leading without the formality requires deeper reserves of leadership.
Leadership requires some level of personal gravitas
People like being led by a leader who has that special something. You may need to first identify, then polish that special something.
Leadership can be developed
As an individual we can identify personal weak areas that need strengthening. Leadership could be one weak area for you, but don’t loose hope, leadership can be learnt (or enhanced) through development. Reflect on how Obama’s leadership has developed since he stepped (in a big way) into the public spotlight in 2006.
Leadership can be collaborative
As a leader, it is not always about having all the answers or making the right decision. Rather leadership is about being discerning with the information that you are given and making the best decision possible given the situation that confronts you. Collaboation can add leverage to your leadership abilities.
Leaders need to lead and not simply be blown along by opinion
Great leaders sometimes need to encourage (challenge) their followers to think in a different way. However, challenging followers to think in a different way requires leaders often to take a long-term view on issues. Whilst most politicans are driven by the 3 year (short-term) election cycle, in gerneral the public want leaders who lead, not simply leaders who look to respond fastest to swings in public opinion.
Wordpress admin is really good
Posted on | April 29, 2009 | No Comments
Wordpress 2.7 admin is really quite easy to use. Wordpress has come a long way, thats for sure. With some many widgets and plugins available, the challenge is working out what should be used rather than just what could be used. So far I am loving adding and building and creating, i just wish i had a little more time to play and develop a little more content. That will happen!
Oh, and I loved all the iPhone adverts on channel 10 tonight. Apps are a billion dollar business….well soon will be considering over 1 bn apps have been downloaded. Thats a serious new market that Apple have been able to create and capitalise on. Good value for customers as well. Maybe the new questions is not “will you have fries with that?” but rather “will you have apps with that?”
Ignite Sydney
Posted on | April 17, 2009 | No Comments
Ignite Sydney is looking to go for round two. Here is the conecpt:
“What would you say if you had just 5 minutes to give your presentation? You get 20 slides, and each slide lasts 15 seconds.”
So far people have talked about how to buy a ued car ( http://bit.ly/BtDbd) and other interesting and unique ideas.
To register for a free ticket or to opt in to become a speaker, check out the site – Ignite Sydney
I would like to see some new blood, or just the same people continuing to do a good job.
Ad-Tech Sydney #ATSYD
Posted on | March 11, 2009 | 1 Comment
Good keynotes this morning regaring social media sites. With reps from LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and Friendster. Interesting to hear them share some views on what will work and what might not over the next while. What i liked was the way that LinkedIn seems to be the only platform at the moment with a diversified revenue model.
Tags: bebo > Facebook > friendster > linkedin > myspace > social media
>0.00% Google Analytics Interesting Results
Posted on | March 4, 2009 | 3 Comments
Google analytics is a pretty nice package. However, i have heard some interesting stats being returned when you look to push it to the limits. This is not a post about that, rather an interesting result that was displayed interestingly! See for yourself, one thought i just had is that it is a rounding error… that might explain it, either way, i’d like to see an = sign instead.
Google Analytics >0.00%
Tags: google > Google Analytics > maths
Shark attack in Bondi
Posted on | February 13, 2009 | No Comments
Did anyone see the A-league advertising over Jan? Interesting to see life is now imitating art. On the back of the 339 clovelly bus, on the way back from a swim, we photographed the following advert:
What is interesting is that in the last two days in Sydney, there have been two shark attacks; one in the harbour, where a navy /police diver has since lost his hand and one where a surfer in bondi has been bitten on the hand. Two in two days….
Maybe the guys in advertising are telling the truth (for once) and we should all go watch some soccer….
Twitter Jobs
Posted on | February 10, 2009 | No Comments
Twitter is exploding and would no doubt be an excellent place to work right now. Heck, they might not have a business model part totally cracked, just yet, however, they are looking to hire and have some interesting roles.
The one that looks most interesting in my opinion is the Business Dev role. Clearly Twitter has a mandate to make some cash off the rapidly growing audience and are looking for some help in executing on this.
Anyone going to apply?
Tags: twitter > twitter jobs
software as a service
Posted on | February 10, 2009 | No Comments
Top SASS applications…. that i have seen.
1: CRM – Sugar / Salesforce
2: Accounting – Sassu
3: Blogging – wordpress
Sure that there are others.
What is SASS – Software as a Service (SaaS, typically pronounced ’sass’) is a model of software deployment where an application is licensed for use as a service provided to customers on demand.
Tags: business mgt > sass > Software as a service